Unleashing Marxist elements in the selected novels of

J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter series

Dissertation submitted to the University of Calicut in partial fulfillment of

the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts

in

English Language and Literature

By

Fainy Joji P

Reg. No. CCATMEG005

March 2021

P. G. Department of English

Christ College (Autonomous), Irinjalakuda

Kerala – 680125

Declaration

I, Fainy Joji P, hereby declare that this dissertation entitled Unleashing Marxist

elements in the selected novels of J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter series, submitted to

the University of Calicut in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the

Degree of Master of Arts in English Language and Literature, is a bonafide research

work done by me under the supervision and guidance of Ms. Sruthy Mohan, Assistant

Professor, P. G. Department of English, Christ College (Autonomous), Irinjalakuda.

Irinjalakuda Fainy Joji P

March, 2021

P. G. Department of English

Christ College (Autonomous)

Irinjalakuda-680125

March 2021

Certificate

This is to certify that this dissertation entitled Unleashing Marxist elements in the

selected novels of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, is an authentic record of

research work carried out by Ms.Fainy Joji P under my supervision and guidance in

partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Arts in

English Language and Literature submitted to the University of Calicut.

Dr. Hemalatha. P. Ms. Sruthy Mohan

Coordinator, P. G. Department of English Assistant Professor

Christ College (Autonomous) P.G. Department of English

Irinjalakuda (SupervisingTeacher)

Acknowledgement

I owe my sincere gratitude to the God Almighty for his abundant blessings in

the preparation of this project report. I am happy to acknowledge my heartfelt thanks

to my supervising teacher, Ms.Sruthy Mohan, Assistant Professor, P. G. Department of

English, Christ College (Autonomous), Irinjalakuda, for her guidance and painstaking

correction and revision.

I do thank Dr. Hemalatha.P. , Coordinator, P. G. Department of English, for the

timely help and generous encouragement.

I am very grateful to Rev.Dr. Jolly Andrews CMI, Principal in -charge, Christ

College (Autonomous), Irinjalakuda for the congenial research he has always tried to

foster.

My deep sense of gratitude to Fr Sibi Francis, the librarian and his staff for the

facilities they offered in the library.

I would also like to express my love and regards to my parents, teachers, friends

and all those who have helped me directly and indirectly, in the successful completion

of this project work.

Fainy Joji P

Contents

Chapters Contents Pages

Introduction 1-7

I Cultural Hegemony; a Neo Marxist Approach 8-19

II Hegemonic-Counter Hegemonic Riots 20-35

III Conquest through Class Alliances 36-55

Conclusion 56-60

Works Cited 61-62

1

Introduction

The second half of the twentieth century marked a resurgence of Marxist

criticism by allowing openness and flexibility to many critical perspectives. Antonio

Francesco Gramsci was a famous Italian Marxist, philosopher and communist

politician who propagated his views on various disciplines like politics, sociology and

linguistics. Gramsci tried to loosen the rigidities of orthodox Marxism. His views

were not confined to the economic determinism of traditional Marxist notion.

Gramsci’s various perspectives that amend or extend the scope of Marxist theory

gained him wide acclaim as a key neo Marxist. Gramsci’s most interesting idea

cluster around his concept of cultural hegemony. Gramsci led the Communist Party of

Italy and was imprisoned by Benito Mussolini’s Fascist regime. Gramsci wrote more

than thirty notebooks during the period of imprisonment which later known as Prison

Notebooks. His notebooks cover various topics like Italian history and nationalism,

civil society, folklore, Fordism, Fascism, religion, high and popular culture and the

French Revolution. It was a great contribution to Twentieth century political theory

and contain some ideas related to Marxism. He has also written the essay entitled

‘Some Aspects of the southern Question’. Gramsci wrote the essay prior to his

imprisonment in 1926. He has drawn insights from Marxists like Karl Marx,

Vladimir Lenin and many other thinkers. “Gramsci’s prison writings have had a

strong influence on literary and social critics such as Terry Eagleton in England and

Fredric Jameson and Edward Said in America, who argue for the power of literary

culture to intervene in and transform existing economic and political arrangements

and activities.”(Abrams and Harpham 208)

2

The concept of hegemony, was first appeared in Gramsci’s essay, ‘The

Aspects of Southern Question.’ The southern question details how the proletariat can

assume hegemony within a system of class alliances enabling the majority of working

class population to assert a dictatorship of the proletariat. In order to exist as a

governing class the proletariat must strip of the elements of corporatism and should

win the trust and consent of peasants and some semi proletarian categories. In the

traditional sense the term hegemony was used to indicate political rule or domination

of one group over the other. The dominant group can control the subjugated class by

imposing their ideas. As this domination extends the imposed ideologies become

intertwined with the culture of society itself. Later on, these ideals become a normal

thing that exist in the society. This situation is then known as cultural hegemony.

Gramsci’s writings contain no precise definition for the term cultural hegemony. But

one can comprehend the concept based on his oft repeated characterization of

hegemony. “The spontaneous consent given by the great masses of population to the

general direction imposed on social life by the dominant fundamental group; this

consent is ‘‘historically’ ’caused by the prestige which the dominant group enjoys

because of its position and function in the world Reproduction’’ (Gramsci 12).

According to Terry Eagleton, Gramsci uses the term hegemony to mean the ways in

which a governing power wins consent to its rule from the subjugated sector. By the

term cultural hegemony Antonio Gramsci proposes the idea that the ruling class can

manipulate the value system and essential customs of a society, so that their view

become the world view. Gramsci put froths his view on civil society and super

structure. “civil society includes political organizations, but it also includes the church

3

,the school system, sports teams, the media and the family’’(Jones 32).Gramsci recast

the base super structure model of classical Marxism. In Gramsci’s concept the base

included only the material and technical instruments of production. He broadened the

superstructure by including political society and the state. Gramsci has used the term

subaltern to identify the social group that has been excluded from the socio political

institutions of the society. Gramsci’s political journals and prison notebooks has

always been subjected to further studies in the hope of further theoretical

illuminations.

Joanne Rowling, one of the most celebrated British author and best known for

her phenomenal series Harry Potter, was born on 31 July 1965. She is better known

by her pen name J.K.Rowling. Her parents were Rolls-Royce and Peter James

Rowling. As a child, Rowling wrote fantasy stories. Rowling’s teen age years were

not really happy because of her mother’s multiple sclerosis and strained relationship

with her father. Rowling did her schooling at St. Michael’s primary school and

persuade secondary education from Weyden School. Rowling earned B.A in French

and classics from the University of Exeter. She has worked as a researcher and

bilingual secretary in London for Amnesty International. Rowling married a

Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes. The couple got separated after the birth

of their child, Jessica Isabel Rowling. Rowling herself admitted that she has suffered

domestic abuses from her husband. Her failed relationship and jobless condition led

her to a state of clinical depression. Despite all the difficulties, Rowling decided to

pursue her writing career and came up with her magnum opus ‘Harry Potter’, a

fictional series. Harry Potter series and Cormoran strike series are two of the notable

4

works by Rowling. She also writes crime fiction under the pen name Robert

Galbraith. Rowling’s first novel aimed at adults was ‘The Casual Vacancy’. Rowling

received numerous awards for the Harry Potter series including Locus Award for the

best fantasy novel (Harry potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), Andre Norton Award

(Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), Anthony award for best young adult novel

(Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) .The Robert F Kennedy Ripple of Hope

Award 2019,National Book Awards Children’s book of the Year,1999 (Harry Potter

and the Chamber of Secrets), James Joyce Award, University College Dublin, 2008

and Hugo Award for Best Novel (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). Rowling was

one of the producers of the Harry Potter series, the film adaptation of her fictional

work.

Being a writer with strong political perspectives Rowling has always been

concerned with various socio-political issues happening around her. Her intense

fascination for Jessica Mitford, an English author and American civil right activist

might have paved the foundation for her political ideals. From the very younger age

Rowling read the works of Jessica Mitford including her autobiography ‘Hons and

Rebels’. She describes Jessica as a self-taught socialist and considers her as a real

heroine. Rowling maintained a long term friendship with the former U.K Prime

Minister Gordon Brown. She favored the labor party in U.K.and remarked that poor

and vulnerable families would be better under the labor party than a Cameron led

conservative party. She has also expressed her opinion regarding Scottish and U.S

politics. Few years ago, in 2008, Rowling told a Spanish newspaper that she needs a

democrat in the White House. The legendary writer always involved in charity and

5

her massive charity works include the charitable trust ‘Volant’ and ‘Lumos’ which

she founded collaborating with Georgette Multher.

‘Harry Potter’ tells the saga of a wizard boy. Rowling conceived the idea of

the character during a long train journey from Manchester to London. The series

contain seven novels in total. And they are, Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone

(1997); Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998); Harry Potter and the

Prisoner of Azkaban (1999); Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire (2000); Harry Potter

and the Order of the Phoenix (2003); Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2005);

and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007).The story depicts a battle between

good and the evil. The antagonist of the story is an evil dictator, Lord Voldemort. He

tries to erase all the muggle borns (witches and wizards born to non-magical parents)

from the wizarding community. Voldemort’s prime intention is to kill Harry who has

been prophesied to be the vanquisher of Voldemort. At the age of eleven Harry

discovers the magical power within him and joins the Hogwarts School of witchcraft

and wizardry. Harry come to know about the secret of Horcruxes which has been

made by the dark wizard Voldemort to preserve his soul. Harry determines to destroy

all the seven Horcruxes. Harry along with his friends Hermione Granger and Rons

Weasley forms Dumbledore’s Army to practice defense against the dark lord. Albus

Dumbledore, the headmaster of the Hogwarts School founds a secret organization to

fight Lord Voldemort and his followers. At the end of the series Harry conquers

Voldemort putting an end to all kinds of terror and injustice that prevailed in the

wizarding community. Rowling’s story has an imaginary setting outside the realm of

the reality. George Lucas, one of the most widely influential of Marxist critics argues

6

that each great work of literature creates its own world which is distinct from

everyday reality. Rowling has made use of the frame of fantasy to illustrate the real

issues that exists within the society. Throughout the series, one can trace many

characters and variety of contexts parallel to the everyday reality. The story contains

fierce social criticism behind the veil of fantasy. Rowling’s personal life and political

ideals has a visible impact on the story. Rowling’s strong inclination towards Jessica

Mitford, her hard teen age days, domestic torture from her husband has influenced the

plot to a greater extend. Rowling herself has declared that she created the dementors-

the soul sucking creatures inspired from her illness of depression. The character of

Hermione Granger-a bright, intelligent student can be the elaborated version of young

Rowling. Steve Eddy, Rowling’s first secondary school teacher remarks her as one of

among the bright and studious girls. Rowling’s headmaster at St. Michael’s school

can be the inspiration for the character of Albus Dumbledore, who has been portrayed

as the epitome of goodness. Rowling acknowledges herself as a left wing. The

egalitarianist ideals of a left wing politician is vividly transparent throughout the

entire series. In every novel Rowling underscores the class distinction that prevailed

between muggle borns and the pure blood wizards. Rowling has also included the

symbols of United Kingdom-the lion and the unicorn in her series. Unicorn is

depicted as swift, powerful creature with magical power. Whereas, lion represents the

great Gryffindor-the group meant for brave and chivalric students in the Hogwarts

School

The study has been divided into five sections. The first section is the

introductory part. It gives a brief idea about the Harry Potter series, its author,

7

J.K.Rowling and the theory of cultural hegemony that has been chosen for the study.

The following section comprises the chapter 1; Cultural Hegemony; a Neo Marxist

Approach. The chapter details the Gramscian theory of cultural hegemony and its

related aspects. The third section, chapter 2 is entitled as ‘Hegemonic-Counter

Hegemonic Riots’ and it analyses the first novel that has been subjected to study;

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The chapter investigate the conflict

between hegemonic-counter hegemonic tendencies that exists in wizarding

community. Ministry of Magic, the character of Dolores Umbridge has been analyzed

on the basis of the theory cultural hegemony. Chapter 3 has been entitled as

‘Conquest through class alliances’ and it examines the novel, Harry Potter and the

Deathly Hallows. The hegemonic power imposed by Lord Voldemort, his cruel

psyche towards the muggle borns and the significance of different marginalized

categories in the novel have been subjected to detailed analysis. The section examine

the treatment of half human creatures in the novel. The characters like house-elves,

goblins, and the centaurs have been analyzed on the basis of Gramsci’s concept of

subaltern which has a fine overlapping with his theory of cultural hegemony. The

final section concludes the research and substantiate the relevance of reading the

novels from a Marxist perspective.

This research attempts to investigate the Marxist elements in J.K Rowling’s

fictional series, ‘Harry Potter’. The study focus on the selected novels from the series;

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly

Hallows.

8

Chapter-1

Cultural Hegemony; a Neo Marxist Approach

Hegemony

Concept of hegemony is one of the widely discussed topics from Gramsci’s

Prison Notebooks. Hegemony constitutes the central element of his thoughts.

Generally speaking, leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group

over the other is known as hegemony. Hegemony in Gramsci’s concept is a rather

sensitive term than the traditional ‘domination’. It acknowledges the active role of the

subordinate people in the operation of power. The working class can only become the

leading class if it creates a system of class alliances. It may lead them to mobilize the

majority of working population against capitalism and bourgeois state. Gramsci

argued that creating a link between the working class and other subordinate classes

may help the working class to proceed their struggle in a more effective manner. His

analysis of the past struggles that resulted in failures like the crushing of workers,

revolts in Europe, and the failure of the Italian working class movement in its

struggles with factory owners, Italian state and with Mussolini’s Fascists. Gramsci

deducts the lack of class alliances as the reason for these failures. The working class

society of these places failed to create such healthy relationship with other

subordinate class especially the peasants and the intellectuals. Gramsci regards that

achieving such alliances may help in eradicating misunderstanding and hostilities that

separate different social groups. This alliance is not just a federation of different

9

groups that carries equal status. The industrial working class led their allies or

subalterns through ideological means and assumed the center of progressive

movements which is simply called as hegemony by Gramsci. More than speaking for

the other group or attaining their vote the hegemonic group should recreate itself and

broaden their boundaries. “They must think as workers who are members of a class

which aims to lead the peasants and intellectuals. Of a class which can win and build

socialism only if it is aided and followed by the great majority of these social

strata.”(Gramsci 322)

Coercion and Consent

In the Prison Notebooks Gramsci mentions about a work of Renaissance

political theory, The Prince written by a diplomat and statesman Niccolo Machiavelli.

Machiavelli says a successful ruler must combine the violence and value as means of

control. He illustrates this idea by adopting a mythological figure of centaur-half man

and half horse. A ruler “Must know well how to imitate beasts as well as employing

properly human means” (Machiavelli 61).Gramsci keeps this philosophy as a

background and argues that leadership involves the level of force with that of consent.

Gramsci proposes coercion and consent as the dual sides of leadership. If consent is

organized by the civil society, coercion has a more applicability in the field what

Gramsci calls political society. Political society is the set of apparatus that legally

enforces control over social group who do not give their consent during a normative

period. It may also dominate the whole society when the consent is broken down. This

analysis illustrates the fact that the cultural, political and economic aspects of

hegemony are always underpinned by the threat of violence.

10

Limited and expansive Hegemony

A ruling group achieves an expansive hegemony when it wins the spontaneous

consent of great masses of people. If a ruling class achieved this expansive hegemonic

status, there won’t be the need of opting coercion and repression. If a hegemonic

group fails to adopt the interests of the popular classes and they simply capitates them

by depriving of their leadership. But one cannot confine the limited hegemony into

the boundaries of class politics. Any sort of political strategy that neutralize or

decapitate the demands of subaltern groups can prevent one hegemonic group from

achieving expansive hegemony. “a multiplicity of dispersed wills, with heterogeneous

aims are welded together with single aim, on the basis of an equal and common

conception of the world”(Mercer 9).

Expansive hegemony adopts the interests of the subaltern and the subaltern

group live the worldview of hegemonic class as their own. Thus gradually each group

can bear a promising nature of interdependence.

Common sense and Good sense

Gramsci uses the term common sense with a different meaning. It should not

be confused with its English counterpart. For Gramsci commonsense is a ‘chaotic

aggregate of disparate conceptions that holds together stone age elements, the

principles of advanced science and institutions of a future philosophy’(Gramsci

324).Gramsci uses the term common-to connote ideas or interest common to a social

11

group, or common to an entire society. Gramsci illustrates that every social sector has

its own common sense which continuously subjected to changes.

Gramsci poses the question regarding the true understanding of ideas and

concepts. He is worried about the survival of men if they find that their conceptions

about the society were all wrong. According to Gramsci, there must have a practical

understanding of the world. In order to be ruled a person must actively participate in a

specific conception of the world. Gramsci uses the term Good sense to denote the

practical side of wisdom. And thus Gramsci uses the term good sense with a similar

connotation of the usual usage ‘common sense’.

Cultural Hegemony

If the hegemonic influence control another group and impose their ideals on

the group it leads to a change in their culture. Gradually they adapt to those changes

and these ideals become part of their culture. This situation is known as cultural

hegemony. It is the domination maintained through cultural means. As the domination

extends, the ruling will no longer exist as a matter of coercion, instead in the long run

it must have win the consent of the subordinate group. The ruling group can strongly

influence the values, ideas, behavior and worldview of the rest of the society through

social institutions. The hegemonic influence that reforms culture is distinct from the

rule of force. It adapts peaceful means to exercise authority. And functions through

economic and social structures which is meant to be designed for the benefit of the

others even though these structures may only benefit the ruling class. Gramsci

proposes the concept of cultural hegemony as a response to Marx’s theory that the

12

dominant ideology of the society reflects the interests and beliefs of the ruling class.

Gramsci argues that the consent to the rule of dominant class is attained by

propagating their views, ideologies and values through social institutions such as

schools, churches, courts and media. Cultural hegemony led the dominated group to

believe that the social and economic conditions exists in the society is natural and

inevitable ,rather than created by the people with a vested interest of social, economic

and political agendas. Marx had recognized the role of ideology in producing

economic system and social social structures. Gramsci emphasize on this power of

ideology. In his essay “The Intellectuals”, Gramsci described this power of ideology

that utilizes institutions such as education and religion to reproduce the social

structure. Gramsci elaborates on the role played by educational system to achieve

consent, in his essay “On Education” Gramsci’s preoccupations in his writing on

education are still at the center of educational debate today; the relations between

education and class; vocationalism; the ideology of education; the “comprehensive

school.”(Hoare and Geoffrey 162)

Base and Superstructure

Marxist theories influenced Gramsci’s political thoughts to a greater extend.

During his University years, he happened to attend a course of lectures on Marx.

Marxism dealt extensively with ideology and super structure. Marx argues that the

ruling ideas are just the expression of the dominant group of the society, or else the

ideas are just the reflections of bourgeois’ social life. Marx’s thought of ideology

13

gradually built towards the argument that the mode of thoughts are spread by not only

the economic relations, the various institutions developed also disseminate these ideas

and maintain an unequal class society. Marx’s argument turns on the existence of

‘base ’or ‘super structure’. He describes it as primary economic activity that

determine all legal, educational, artistic, and political activities. He gave the name

superstructure to all these elements collectively. According to Marx’s ideology the

sum total of all economic relations form the economic base of the society. It is the

foundation on which a legal and political superstructure is built up on. Marx remarks

economic base as the most important and crucial fragment of social life. It is the base

that gives life to superstructure. In turn, the superstructure maintains the existing

economic system. It may conceal or legitimize the condition of economic

exploitation. The practice of slavery that existed in in large parts of America can be

taken as an example of exploitation that constitutes the economic base structure. It led

to the formulation of laws to describe what a slave could and could not do. So her the

superstructure reinforced the practice of slavery in order to maintain the already

existing order of economic base structure. The social change can be pursued only by

making a change in the fundamental base structure. Marx considers material

production as the essential part of economic base which depend upon a particular

image of factory labour.it ignores other forms of production which also has major role

in economic base structure. Aspects of modern society that corresponds to Marxist’s

notion of superstructure such as leisure, communication, sports and entertainment

industries are now major sectors included in economy. Super structural areas behave

in a way that suites to the interest of capitalist base structure. Though it is capitalist in

14

its origin ,the base expands its limits to find that many super structural areas like

school,law,and politics have grown up to a high level of independence and autonomy.

These spots advocate significant impact on the economic base.

Civil Society

Gramsci imbibed the ideals of Marx and Angels, analyzed these ideals in with

respect to the current social scenario and a tried to give a new shade to these

ideologies. Gramsci idea of civil society is an elaborated version of Marx’s

superstructure. Gramsci argues that it is not just the trade unions and moderate

socialist parties constitute the superstructure. Gramsci gave a broader definition to this

area and gave called it ‘civil society ‘collectively. Civil society includes political

organizations but it also includes the church, the school system, sports teams, the

media and the family. This model of superstructure is far removed from Marx’s

argument that it is the set of institutions that transmit a monolithic bourgeois ideology.

Other than the legal apparatus, civil society also accommodate children’s parties,

shopping trips, and going on holiday. Hence it becomes the matter of everyday life.

This perspective makes the civil society less connected to the power operations. In

Gramsci’s widest definition of the term it is the ‘ensemble of organisms commonly

called “private” (Gramsci 12).Therefore it is also a matter of individual behavior,

tastes and values as it is a matter of regulated cultural institutions. Gramsci considers

the civil society as the motor of history rather than the economy. I t is the realm of

values and meanings that either sustain or transmit the society. Gramsci argues that

the state provides powerful operation to connect the civil society to the economy.

Gramsci argues that hegemony stretches beyond the pure “economic–corporative”

15

level, being supplemented by a veritable “ethical political layer” (Gramsci 703).In this

context the civil society works as an object of conquest as well as a battle field among

different social and political groups. Gramsci proposes that the civil society is an

expression of what he called as hegemony. That is, it is a pattern of power relations

among social groups in a given social-political context. Hegemony is not only the

matter of domination, it also requires direction.

Caesarism

Caesarism is a political thought associated with various aspects such a s

tyranny, dictatorship, and Bonapartism. Gramsci discusses about a situation where

two fundamental classes in a historical period become so balanced that none of these

group can hegemonize the other. He calls this situation a “static equilibrium’ or

‘interregnum’, arguing that an organic crisis ‘consists precisely in the fact that the old

is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid

symptoms appear” (Gramsci 275).History has witnessed the entry of dictators who

offers the leadership necessary to overcome the stand-off and construct a new

settlement based on the force of their personality. In order to describe this situation,

Gramsci more commonly uses the term Caesarism, after the Roman autocrat Julius

Caesar.

War of Maneuver and War of Position

Gramsci draws a decisive distinction between political strategies which may

help to bring out social revolution. While analyzing Gramsci and thoughts a

16

prominent place must be given to his concept of ‘war of maneuver’ and ‘war of

position. War of maneuver is purely the classical model of revolution through military

insurrection. Whereas war of position is the cultural struggle of much longer duration

and complexity.in other words it can be defined as an intellectual and cultural struggle

where the revolutionary creates a proletarian culture whose native value counters the

cultural hegemony of the bourgeoisie. In many western countries war of maneuver

has been supplanted by war of position.

Russian revolution succeeded in formulating a worker’s state even though it

was not a country that reached to the level of industrial revolution which was a

prerequisite for a social revolution in Marx’s concept. Gramsci was sure that the mode

of revolutionary strategy that adopted in Russia would not be applicable in the

countries with more mature democracy. Hence Gramsci had different view regarding

the direct assault and he regards in Western Europe there were trade unions, Social

democratic parties and a well-paid labor aristocracy. The presence of these political

superstructures may slow down the process of a direct action and wanted the Italian

revolutionaries to adopt a more long term strategy than a direct act of maneuver.

Therefore Gramsci draws a clear-cut distinction between the war of maneuver and

war of position and deducts that the kind of revolutionary strategy to be adopted in

each countries may vary due to the existing social democratic conditions. Russia was

country where the political superstructure is poorly developed and that’s why they

could make a worker’ state through a frontal attack to which Gramsci gives the name

war of maneuver. If war of position stands for an ideological struggle, the war of

maneuver is completely an armed revolution. However the first usage may inspire the

17

political movements to renounce the revolutionary violence. Often a long time

ideological process should be opted to shape the parts of the superstructure before a

decisive action or a frontal attack.

War of position will give way to war of maneuver at certain point in

the historical development, and then it will once again be possible

to carry out “frontal attack “on the state. However in political struggle

and military war, war of position is related to the West, where there is

a proper relation between “state and civil society”, unlike East

(Russia), where war of maneuver was appropriate.(Hoare and Geoffrey

446)

Gramsci’s Concept of Subaltern

Subaltern studies has become one of the most popular enterprise within the

last twenty years. Gramsci uses the term ‘subaltern’ in his Prison Notebooks to

identify the social groups excluded from the socio-economic institutions of society.

Gramsci analyzed the concept of subaltern considering their particular historical

context. He approaches subaltern study to find subaltern as a historically determined

category that exists within the social, political, economic and cultural contexts.

He attempts to understand the process, development and lineage of the

subaltern; how they came into existence, how some survived at the

margins, and how others succeeded in their ascent from a subordinate

social position to dominant one.(Green 3)

18

In his prison notebooks Gramsci illustrates that the subaltern group has the potential

to come up with revolutionary ideals. He also substantiate his argument by making

some reference to the past where the subaltern won over the bourgeois.one of the

reason behind the success of Gramscian theory is its broadened diversity and greater

inclusivity than the traditional Marxist notions of proletariat and working class. Marx

used these terms to address the system of production and social classes. On the other

hand Gramscian category of subaltern is concerned with the relations of force and

power beyond the realm of socio-economic relations.

Gramsci’s observations on subaltern was relevant to Italian history,

particularly in the process of Italian unification. Gramsci studied the relation between

the leaders and the led. He closely examines the subaltern society with its historical

context and makes different interpretations regarding the subaltern groups and their

activity. Gramsci believed that it was possible to create a history of subaltern classes

though it was a difficult task. He argues that subaltern develop through various phases

that corresponds to levels of political organization. Gramsci remarks the presence of

various social economic political and cultural relations produce marginalization and

prevent group autonomy. The transformation of subaltern group from its subordinate

position was the ultimate aim of Gramsci and through his analysis, Gramsci

developed a political strategy which may help such a transformation to take place.

Counter Hegemony

Counter hegemony refers to attempts to critique or dismantle hegemonic

power. Hegemony and counter hegemony have been mobilized as two of the key

19

concepts of media and cultural studies. Many post-colonial theorists have applied the

gramscian concept of hegemony to unravel the dynamics of colonized societies. Neo

Gramscian theorist Nicola Pratt has described counter hegemony as an alternative

hegemony designed by the civil society in order to generate political change.

According to Theodore H Cohn, counter hegemony is an alternative ethical view of

society that poses a challenge to the dominant bourgeois community. The term has

more practicality in Machiavellian concepts of War of Position and War of Maneuver.

In war of position a counter hegemonic force attempts to revolt through persuasion or

propaganda, to increase the number of people with similar perspective regarding

hegemonic order. In a War of Maneuver the counter hegemonic tendencies are grown

large enough large enough to over throw the current hegemonic barriers. They

establish themselves as a new historic bloc, and may opt violent means to reach the

goal.

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Chapter-2

Hegemonic-Counter Hegemonic Riots

The novel ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’ depicts several counter-

Hegemonic attempts to dismantle the existing hegemonic orders from the wizarding

community. The novel opens with the description of the hottest day of summer. Harry

is spending his summer holidays at his aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon’s home. Harry

tries to over hear the evening news broadcast, Harry feels relieved, as there was no

news regarding mass destruction or anything else that might indicate the work of evil

wizard Lord Voldemort. Suddenly a thunderous crack ropes through the

neighborhood Harry wanders off to a local playground. He is upset that he has heard

very little news from his best friends and schoolmate Hermione and Ron. Harry takes

a seat on the swings and watches his cousin Dudley leading a gang of delinquents.

Harry suppresses the urge to taunt Dudley with his wand. The night becomes pitch

black and very cold. Harry realizes that dementors are about to attack. Harry uses his

wand to summon a patronus stag and the stag saves both boys. Harry tries to hide the

wand as he saw one of his neighbors, Mrs.Figg. She begs him to keep his wand out in

case more dementors lurk nearby. Mrs.Figg reveals herself as a squib, which means

she was born to magic parents but has no magic ability of her own. Mrs. Figg warns

Harry that Dumbledore will soon know that he’s used his magic outside of Hogwarts.

Suddenly Harry hears another crack, and mundungus return to Hogwarts immediately

and explain to Dumbledore why Harry needed to use his magic. Harry receives a

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letter from Ministry of magic conveying that Harry is going to be expelled from

Hogwarts for improper use of magic. The letter informs that someone will be arriving

shortly to destroy his wand. A few moments later Harry gets another letter from Ron’s

father, Arthur Weasley. The letter tells Harry that Dumbledore is attempting to sort

the issue out with the ministry of magic and that Harry should not surrender his wand

or leave the house. Harry receives a second letter from the ministry of magic. The

ministry allows Harry to retain his wand until a disciplinary hearing on August 12.

Another owl appears carrying a letter from Harry’s godfather Sirius, Sirius warns

Harry not to leave the house. Aunt Petunia seems horrified by Harry’s announcement

that Lord Voldemort has returned and orders Harry to leave the house immediately.

Harry is greeted by a group of nine wizards including mad-Eye moody. They came to

transport him somewhere safe to wait his hearing without further danger. Moody

hands Harry a piece of paper that reads “The headquarters of the order of the phoenix

may be found at number twelve Grimauld place, London” and orders Harry to

memorize it. The wizards rush Harry into numbers twelve. There he finds Ron’s

mother Mrs. Weasley, Ron and Hermione. Harry knew from his friends that order of

phoenix is a secret society comprised of people who wish to prevent Voldemort return

to power. The order has been busy following known Death Eaters and standing guard

over Harry. Death Eaters are the followers of Lord Voldemort. Harry also learns that

Ron’s Brother Perry has betrayed his family in order to support the corrupt Cornelius

Fudge at the ministry of magic Hermione tells Harry how the daily prophet has been

building a case against Harry all the summer, portraying him as an egotistical liar.

Harry meets his godfather Sirius Black, Sirius explains that number twelve was his

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parent’s house and now belongs to him. He has offered it to Dumbledore as a meeting

spot. Sirius tells Harry that while Dumbledore thinks Voldemort is building his army

backup, the ministry of magic refuses to accept that Voldemort is back. Instead Fudge

fears that Dumbledore is plotting to overthrow him by taking the position of minister

himself. Harry also learns that Voldemort is attempting to gain access to some kind of

secret weapon. Mrs. Weasley, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ron’s twin brothers, Fred and

George are attempting to clean number twelve. Kreacher, the black house elf, resists

their efforts sneaking off with items he does not want thrown away and muttering

insults under his breath. Members of the order come and go, delivers news and check

in. Sirius shows Harry the Black family tapestry, which traces the black family back

to the Middle Ages. Sirius mother burned off her son’s name after he refused to

subscribe to Voldemort’s philosophies about only pure blood wizards being allowed

to train and practice wizardry. Dumbledore sends Mr. Weasley to accompany Harry to

the Ministry. They enter the Ministry through a phone booth. Mr. Weasley takes

Harry to wait in his office. There, Weasley’s partner, Perkins breathlessly informs

them that the time and place of Harry’s hearing have changed. Mr. Weasley looks at

his watch and realizes that they are already late. They sprints towards the courtroom

where he drops Harry off, Harry enters the courtroom. When Harry was inside

Dumbledore’s pensive he finds that estranges sentenced to life imprisonment in the

same court room. Cornelius Fudge reprimands Harry for being late. Fudge has been

the minister of magic from 1990 to1996. The wizengamot is made up of about fifty

wizards and witches, led by Cornelius Fudge, who is seated next a toad like women

named Dolores Umbridge, Percy Weasley is present to transcribe the proceedings. As

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the hearing begins, Dumbledore breezes into the room. He declares himself as the

witness for the defense. The hearing begins, members of the Wizengamot seem

impressed that Harry could conjure a full patronus but do not believe Harry’s story

about dementors appearing in little winking. . Dumbledore presents Mrs. Fudge as a

witness and she nervously explains what happened. Fudge still refuses to believe that

dementors who are under strict ministry control, escaped Azkaban to scare a muggle

suburb. The wizengamot votes and Harry is cleared of all charges. Harry returns to

number twelve, Hermione suspects that Sirius secretly wanted Harry to live with him

at number twelve. Before they return to school, book list arrives from Hogwarts, Ron

and Hermione have both been selected as Gryffindor perfects for the coming years.

Harry gets over raged for not being selected as Gryffindor house which symbolizes

bravery. Many times he has proven to be courageous wizard than Ron and Hermione.

Later moody pulls out a photograph of the older and shows Harry the former

members, explaining the cause of death for each one. Harry gets upset at the sight of

his mother and father. Harry dreams of Mrs. Weasly crying. He wakes up and tell Ron

that they are going to be late for train to Hogwarts. Sirius transforms himself into a

black dog-named pad foot and breaks Dumbledore’s order to stay inside during their

Trans journey. Harry finds Loony Love good reading the wizard Tabloid the

Quibbler, which her father edits. They also come to know that Malfoy is now a

Slytherin Perfect. Slytherin is one of the four houses of Hogwarts School. Slytherins

are known for being cunning and ambitious and have produced many dark witches

and wizards. The train arrives the school and the student’s shuffle out. Harry finds

Professor Grubbly Plank instead of Hagrid. First years arrive and the sorting hat,

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which is responsible for sorting all first years into four houses, bursts into song. The

song warns the students against becoming too internally divisive. The headless Nick,

resident ghosts explains that the hat gives warnings only when it feels Hogwarts is in

danger. Dumbledore, the head of Hogwarts announces that Professor Grubbly Plank

will be teaching Hagrid’s class, care of magical creatures. Later he introduces

professor Umbridge, the toad like woman at Harry’s trial. She is the new Dark Arts

teacher. Umbridge gives a long speech of her introduction and Hermione says the

ministry will be interfering in Hogwarts business in this year. All fifth years of

Hogwarts must take O.W.L.S ordinary wizard level exams. Professor Umbridge

writes her course aims on the black board and Hermione points out that she has listed

nothing about using the defensive spells, instead they only study those spells.

Professor Umbridge explains that the ministry will not afford underage wizards

practicing spells that are dangerous and unnecessary. Harry says, they must be trained

to fight Voldemort but Umbridge argues that Voldemort has not returned and she

gives Harry detention every night for a week. Harry meets professor McGonagall, the

head of Gryffindor house. McGonagall tells Harry to be mindful of who Umbridge is

and to whom she is reporting Hermione sends Small Knit hats for the house Elves,

who are freed when they find clothing of their own. As usual, Hermione seems more

concerned with freeing Elves. Gryffindor Quidditch captain Angelina Johnson

reprimands Harry for having to miss keeper tryouts because of his detention. Harry

reports to Umbridge office, Umbridge makes him write “I must not tell lies” over and

over again on a piece of parchment. Umbridge gives him a special quill to use and the

words appear on the parchment in blood. It also appears on the back of Harry's hand.

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As Harry stares at it the skin heals over again. The process was really painful.

Umbridge finally allows Harry to leave. Ron finds out the scar on Harry’s hand and

suggests that he should inform Dumbledore about it. But Harry refuses and instead

says he may ask Sirius for help but Hermione reminds them of the order’s warning

about letters. Harry finds an article in the daily prophet stating that Sturgis Podmore

was sentenced to six months in Azkaban for trying to break into the ministry, Ron

suggests that Sturgis was lured to the ministry and arrested because of his

involvement with the order. While studying, Harry spots Sirius head in the fire. Sirius

tells Harry that Umbridge is quite unpleasant but she is not a Death Eater, the follower

of Voldemort. Hermione receives her daily prophet, the wizarding newspaper.

According to the paper Dolores Umbridge has been named high inquisitor, granting

the ministry of magic an unprecedented level of control at Hogwarts. Umbridge will

be sitting in all classes. In defense against the Dark Arts, Harry loses his temper again

and get another week of detention. In defense against the Dark Arts, Harry loses his

temper again and gets another week of detention. Hermione suggests students from

their own study group with harry as their teacher for the Defense against Dark Arts.

Harry agrees to lead the group. Hermione plans to conduct a meeting in the Hog’s

head, a pub to discuss about the forming of the group. Twenty-five of the Hogwarts

students arrives and they sign their name on a parchment. Umbridge takes an

unexpected step to abolish all the student organizations working in secrecy. She

brings forth an educational degree forbidding all students organizations, including the

Quidditch teams from meeting. Sirius encourages Harry to continue with their secret

group to learn defense against Dark Arts. The house elf Dobby tells Harry about the

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Room where they can Practice Defense Secretly. Harry calls a meeting for the next

night. Students arrive and they decides a name for their group. The group was named

as Dumbledore’s army and the twenty-five member of the group often met and

practiced defensive spells against Dark Arts. Harry begins to have strange dreams

about walking down a corridor with a door at the end of it. Umbridge accumulates

more power and influence at the school. She begins to inspect the work of other

teachers such as Hagrid and intends to sack him as she was prejudiced against half-

breeds. Finally Voldemort arrives to kill Harry, but Dumbledore arrives as well as and

duels Voldemort. Voldemort is not able to kill Dumbledore, but he possesses Harry in

an attempt to get Dumbledore to kill Harry. Harry fights off the possession and

Voldemort escapes just as Fudge appears. As Fudge directly saw Voldemort he had to

admit the truth that Voldemort has arrived. Dumbledore suggests Harry to stay at

private drive in orders to save himself from Voldemort. He also reveals the full

content of the prophecy. The prophecy had foretold the birth of someone with the

power to defeat Voldemort. Voldemort believes it is Harry although the prophecy

pointed at either Neville or Harry to be his destroyers. The rest of the Prophecy hinted

that Voldemort would unknowingly mark his opponent as an equal, and eventually

one of them would kill the other. Now the wizarding community is convinced about

Voldemort’s return and as per Dumbledore’s instruction, Harry returns to Dursley’s

once more.

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Institutional Hegemony and ‘The Ministry of Magic’.

The fact that institutions have specific forms of organization and

practice means that they cannot pass on values in a friction-less way as

a syringe would inject liquid into a vein. Instead they mediate between

the ruling group and its intended audience. While institutions may well

be vital tools of the power block, they typically produces a set of

values that are negotiated through their circumstances and traditions.

(Jones, 76-77)

Social institutions play considerable role in expanding hegemonic influence. The

governing group considers institutions as a vital force for transmitting the values.

They typically produces a set of values that are negotiated through the circumstances

and traditions. The ruling group preserve their laws and may impose an

institutionalised hegemonic influence on the people. A social institution with high

status often inserts their political views and ideologies on the people. There can be

attempts made by these social structures to accumulate the power only in their hands.

And they have their own agendas to keep the power away from others. The authority

figures take advantage of different institutions including court and educational

institutions to execute rules and preserve their culture. Their principles drives the

people’s mind so that they gradually begin to think the way the ruling class designs it.

In the long run these ideologies become the universally accepted norms without

people questioning its authenticity.

The wizarding community has always been subjected to the hegemonic

influence of the ruling group called The Ministry of Magic. It comprises the

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government of magical community. The ministry is headed by the official entitled the

Minister of Magic. The Ministry makes its first appearance in ‘Harry Potter and the

Order of the Phoenix the story unfold this group unravels its identity as a corrupt

elitist and is incompetent with high ranking officials. The authority ignores the threats

against the wizarding society. They were unconcerned of the wizard world’s well-

being. The seventh chapter of the book ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’

gives the detailed description of the departments clustered under the control of

ministry of magic. On the way to hearing Harry notices different departments

assigned with different functions. One gets the impression of a systematised body of

government through the descriptions of various departments like Department of

magical games and sports, Department of magical transportation, Department of

international co-operation, and Department of the regulation of magical accident and

catastrophes, and the department of magical law enforcement. Rowling’s intention

behind these description is probably for adding an apt political setting for her fictional

story. Harry was supposed to move on to the final department-the department of

magical law enforcement, including the improper use of magic. The narrative

underscores the presence of a sharp and well organized body of government in the

wizarding community. Performing witchcraft before muggles was a serious crime.

The wizardry had a secret nature. They didn’t allow the muggles to learn it from

them. Hence the young wizards were not allowed to use magical skill outside the

school. They were forbidden by law. And the law was known as the International

Statue of Secrecy. In the eighth chapter- ‘The Hearing’, Cornelius Fudge details the

crime committed by Harry.“into offences committed under the decree for the

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reasonable restriction of underage sorcery and the international statue of secrecy by

Harry James Potter, resident at number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging Survey.”

(Rowling,Order of the Phoenix 127)

The crime was not only the underage sorcery, the law of international statue of

secrecy was also a biggest concern of the society. The law demands the wizards to

hide the witchcraft from muggles.

Umbridge; Ministry’s agend for executing hegemony

Dolores Umbridge, one among the ministry members is a true representative

of ministry's selfish policies. Her prejudiced and controlling nature makes her an

extremely flawed character from the very start of the novel. She first appears in the

hearing session. Sitting on Fudge’s right hand side, she makes deliberate comments

those are intended to fluster Harry. Later Umbridge is appointed by the ministry as the

Defence against Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. Her power and influence on ministry

is well explicit from McGonagall’s words. She wants harry to be mindful of

Umbridge’s power. McGonagall says “You know where she comes from, you must

know to whom she is reporting.”(Rowling,Order of the Phoenix 230). Umbridge even

questions professor Snape, one of the prominent faculty members of Hogwarts. She

overrides professor McGonagall’s decision to merely place harry ,Fred, and George in

detention for attacking Draco Malfoy, and bans them from quidditch. Umbridge takes

pride of being Ministry’s trained educational expert and appoints herself as Hogwarts

High inquisitor. By assuming this status she makes herself responsible for examining

all the teachers and their methods. She targets professor Trelawney and Hagrid as they

were incompetent. Umbridge forces Trelawney to leave Hogwarts. The narrative also

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emphasize on Umbridge prejudiced nature towards the half breeds. “but you have

been exposed to some very irresponsible wizards in this class, very irresponsible

indeed-not to mention, she gave a nasty little laugh ‘extremely dangerous half

breeds”.(Rowling,Order of the Phoenix 225)

Umbridge uses the word ‘half breeds’ with a deliberate intention to ridicule

Hermione as she questions about the lack of practical knowledge in her scheduled

course aims. The scornful attitude of Umbridge depicts her as a blind follower of the

Ministry. Harry’s and Hermione’s Crave for practical knowledge also hinges at

Gramsci’s emphasis on the relevance of vocational education in the modern

educational system.

In the present school the crisis in the traditional culture and its

conception of life and of man has resulted in a progressive

degeneration. Schools of the vocational type i.e. those designed to

satisfy immediate, practical interests, are beginning to predominate

over the formative schools (Jones, 186).

Umbridge follows the prejudices existed in the wizarding society. Cornelius

Fudge, the minister favours the pure blood wizards. He appears to have a connection

with Lucious Malfoy who strongly believed in the inherited notions of blood purity.

And one can trace the events from the previous novels where Lucious Malfoy mocks

at muggleborns like Hermione Granger. Ministry allows him to receive privilege

among other wizards because of his poor blood ancestry. The following quotation

exemplifies this biased attitude of ministry members towards Lucious Malfoy.

“Malfoy’s been giving generously to all sorts of things for years.....gets him with the

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right people....then he can ask favours...delay laws he doesn’t want passed , he’s very

well connected, Lucious Malfoy...”. (Rowling,Order of the Phoenix 155)

Malfoy could even influence the law and he once avoids imprisonment by

claiming that he was not acting under the effect of a spell and thus cleared of all

charges. On the other hand, wizards who are muggle friendly were deemed to have

lower social status. Even though Arthur Weasley works at Ministry he was denied the

comforts that other officials enjoy. He was treated with a rather discriminative attitude

for his muggle friendly nature. His office was ‘dingy’ and ‘slightly smaller than a

broom cupboard’. (Rowling,Order of the Phoenix 132).It was located in a shabby

corridor next to an actual broom cupboard. Arthur and Weaseley are labelled as ‘blood

traitors’ because of their tolerance to muggles and muggle born wizards. Dolores

Umbridge not only expresses her contempt for muggle born, she also tries to impart

her prejudiced attitude among the students and intently uses the phrase ‘extremely

dangerous half breeds’

Another responsibility invested upon Umbridge was to conceal the fear of lord

Voldemort from the society. Since Hogwarts School was considered as the centre of

their culture, the ministry decides to abolish the fear from the school first. The

Ministry fears whether the news of Voldemort’s return may destabilize their

reputation by creating panic among the people. Umbridge asserts that whatever the

students heard about the return of the dark lord is a lie. And she declares the detention

when harry questions her argument. Umbridge wants the whole Hogwarts School to

follow her ideals. The chapter entitled as ‘educational decree number twenty four’

exemplifies how the governing group attained the society’s concern with the aid of

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laws. Umbridge resolves to ban all students’ organisations, societies, teams, groups

and clubs. “A new sign was printed in large black letters and there was a highly

official looking seal at the bottom beside a neat and curly signature”(Rowling,

325).Umbridge brings forth a list of orders and named it as Educational decree

number twenty four. She fears about the strength of unions. Here Umbridge assumes

the role of a typical hypocrite who has always been afraid of subordinate’s unity. She

afraid s whether the student unions challenge their ideals and become an obstacle for

executing her vested interests. Umbridge's cruelty and wickedness reaches its peek

when she forces Harry to carve the line ‘I must not tell lies’ on his skin. He had to

undergo unusual detention. ‘The words had been cut into his skin once again, they

healed over second later’ (Rowling,Order of the phoenix 240).The process was

repeating over and over again. And the detention extended for one week every night.

Umbridge might have sensed an upcoming revolutionary in Harry. Here Umbridge

emerges as a true replica of hypocrites depicted in history pages. Her wide sweet

smile hides the spark of fierce vengeance. Extreme cruelty and cunningness testifies

the hegemonic spirit. She tries to maintain the pre-existed order by introducing

educational decrees. Here she seeks the aid of laws to rule the subordinates. The

intellectual move also hinges at the Gramsci an concept of base and superstructure

where the super structural areas like school, politics and law operates in such a way

that it suites to the interest of capitalist base structure.

Portrayal of Gramscian Civil Society

Antonio Gramsci expanded Marx’s concept of civil society to include social

institutions like church, school system, sports team, the media, and the family.

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Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry has been the primary setting of Harry

Potter series. Admission to Hogwarts is selective and was given to children with

magical ability. Squibs are not allowed in the school as students. They were the

marginalized and assigned with lower grade jobs in the society. A magical quill at

Hogwarts detects the birth of magical children and writes their name on a parchment

book. Every year a teacher checks this book and sends a letter to the children who are

turning eleven. According to Gramscian ideology, civil society is a realm of values

and principles that transmits to upcoming generation. The Hogwarts School in the

wizarding community acted as an instrument for this cultural transmission. The

educational system of the wizardry world was designed to develop the magical skills

of young wizards. They were taught many subjects such as transfigurations, defence

against the dark arts, charms, potions, astronomy, History of Magic and Herbology. At

the end of their fifth year, scholars take the Ordinary Wizarding Level Test (O.W.L)

Examinations for their respective subjects. Nastly Exhausting wizarding Tests

(N.E.W.T) is given at the seventh year.

Along with improving the magical skills Hogwarts also promotes healthy

competition among students. The sorting hat divides young wizards into different

houses and the sorting ceremony was done on the basis of their talents. Rowling's

fictional school is also notable for the Quidditch game, a dangerous a sport played by

witches and wizards using magical broomsticks. The game was played between two

groups of seven members. The Quidditch match fosters adventurous spirit in the

young wizards. Group spirit often paves the way for discrimination.

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‘The Daily Prophet’-the wizarding world’s newspaper is another factor that

helps to maintain order in the wizarding community. It constitutes the media part and

remains as a constant presence throughout the series. The Daily Prophet influences

the wizard’s lives to a larger extend. And that' why even Cornelius Fudge, the minister

of magic tried to conceal the news of Voldemort’s return from it. As a part of this

attempt he sends Umbridge to Hogwarts. Umbridge spoke on behalf of the ministry

and introduced a set of new reforms in order to make the school completely under

their control. The ministry was sure about the pivotal roles played by Hogwarts

School and the Daily Prophet in the wizarding community. And this is the reason for

why they focused on these pillars to conceal the return of Lord Voldemort.

Counter Hegemonic Upheavals

Albus Dumbledore’s initiative, ‘Order of the Phoenix’, ‘Dumbledore’s Army’

founded by Harry Potter perfectly embodies the counter hegemonic tendencies. Order

of the phoenix is a secret organization founded by Albus Dumbledore. And it was

intended to fight against Lord Voldemort and to prevent him from establishing

tyrannical order. Though the order had to face many losses, it regained its strength as

Harry reported the return of Voldemort. The order led fight against Voldemort while

the Ministry refused to accept the truth. Order’s active participation in the battle at the

Department of Mysteries, their patrolling at Hogwarts, fight with Death Eaters and the

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secret radio programme are quite reminiscent of the counter hegemonic spirit of

working class which has been portrayed in the history pages. A student Organization

Dumbledore’s Army (D.A) was formulated under the leadership of Harry. D.A was

meant for leaning the practical defense against Dark Arts. Members of this

organization offered significant aid to order members in confronting Death Eaters.

Along with Hogwarts staff, older students including slytherins joined hands in the

final struggle. And here the group efforts change its path from War of Position to War

of Maneuver.

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Chapter-3

Conquest through class alliances

The novel ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ begins with two epigraphs.

The first ,a passage from Aeschylus’s play ‘The Libation Bearers’, laments at the

violent death and torments that humans are subjected to; but maintains the hope that

the children of those who suffer may witness the triumph. The second epigraph comes

from William Penn’s ‘More Fruits on Solitude’ and states that friendship is immortal.

The novel chronicles the final confrontation of Harry Potter and the dark Lord,

Voldemort. As the novel begins there held a meeting of Death Eaters under the

presidency of Voldemort. A bound figure is hanged upside down above the

center.Voldemort declares he believes Snape rather than Yaxley. Later he turns

towards the bound prisoner and reveals that it is Charity Burbage, a Hogwarts

professor who taught muggle studies and promoted the view that the presence of mud

blood among the wizards is a good thing. Voldemort kills her with the killing curse.

Harry reads two newspaper article about Dumbledore. Harry feels regret that he knew

so little about Dumbledore’s life. Dudely surprises harry and his whole family by

declaring Harry’s worth. Harry realizes that Dudely is actually thankful to harry for

protecting him from dementor’s attack. Dursely departs in order to save themselves

from Voldemort and accepts the fact that their life is in danger as Harry will lose his

protective charm when he reaches his seventeen. Unexpectedly a large group of

wizards arrives to escort harry to his new place of safety. The group includes Hagrid,

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Rons, Hermione, Fluer Delacour, Mad-eye moody, Fred and GeorgeWeasley, Remus

Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley, and Mundungus Fletcher. Moody tells harry that he has

changed his plan as Pius Thickness has gone over to Voldemort and all ministry

regulated means of transportation are dangerous to them. Moody plans to send Harry

to Tonks parent’s house. On the way Harry and Hagrid is surrounded by a group of

hooded Death Eaters. There happens an assault, the death eaters disappears but returns

back with Voldemort himself who has been planning to kill harry. Harry uses a spell

and falls into a pond. When Harry wakes up he is at Tonks’s house. Harry reaches

Weasley’s apartment. Harry leaves the apartment, gets frustrated in putting his allies

in danger. There exists a strong mental connection between Harry and Voldemort. As

the scar on Harrys hand aches, Harry hears Voldemort scolding the wand maker

Ollivander who told Voldemort that the connection between Harry’s wand and

Voldemort’s could be circumvented by the wand he borrowed from Malfoy. But the

wand is shattered now. Olivander’s proposed scheme didn’t work. Rons and

Hermione is worried about their parents. Hermione has enchanted her muggle parents

into changing their names. Hermione reveals that she used a spell to steal the book on

horcruxes, which Dumbledore once removed from library for safe keeping. Harry

finds Gregorovitch in his dream. And he appears as a answer to the problems

bothering him. Harry’s seventeenth birthday party is going on. And the trace spell

with which the ministry of magic can track harry for underage sorcery is broken. The

birthday dinner is interrupted by the arrival of Rufus Scrimgeour, the Minister of

magic.Scrimgeour insists to talk Rons, Harry and Hermione in private. He has

brought each of them a bequest from Dumbledore’s will. To Harry, Dumbledore

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bequeathed the first snitch he ever caught from his first quidditch match. During the

wedding function of Bill Weasely and Fleur Delacour, Harry meets Krum, the

professional quidditch player. Krum notices the symbol Xenophilus wears and

recognize it as a symbol associated with the dark wizard Grindelwald, who was

defeated by Dumbledore. Harry realizes that the name he heard in his dream

‘Gregorovitch’ belongs to the the famous wand maker who made Krum’s wand.

Harry happens to hear the rumors about Dumbledore’s personal history. Aunt Muriel

talks about Dumbledore’s squib sister, (a child born to wizard parents who lacks any

magical abilities) Ariana. Dumbledore’s mother kept Ariana locked in the basement

and was Unable to bear the shame caused by her daughter’s abnormality. It’s not clear

who actually killed her. It can be her mother or her brother Dumbledore. Harry was

shocked at these reports. Kingsley shacklebolt interferes in the wedding celebration

and announces that Scrimgeour is dead, the Ministry has fallen, and they will have to

face the death eaters at any time. The crowd panics and flees after hearing the news.

Masked and cloaked figures appears as the Death Eaters. Harry and friends moves to

a nearby cafe inorder to plan their next move. Two Death Eaters finds out their hiding

place, the trio hardly escapes. Harry decides to go to number twelve grimmauld place,

the house that Sirius Black left to Harry in his will. Harry sees through Voldemort’s

eyes as Voldemort tortures one of the Death Eaters who attacked them in the cafe for

letting Harry escape. Harry gets a photograph from Sirius house. He decides to go to

meet Bathilda Bagshot and visits his parents grave. Hermione interrupts Harry by

saying that their immediate mission is destroying horcruxes so that they can defeat

Voldemort. Hermione identifies the locket that she had seen in the house as a hocrux.

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But the locket is no longer there. They extend the hope to Kreacher-the old house elf

who used to steel the back trikets.They call Kreacher and he admits that he did steel

the locket. The locket has lost from Kreacher as Fletcher had stolen it. Harry orders

him to tell whatever he know about the locket. Kreacher tells Harry about his master

Regulus, Sirius’s brother who ordered him to help Voldemort for making the horcrux

(the locket).But later Regulus changed his decision to serve Voldemort and replaced

the original locket with a false one which Hermione had seen in the cabinet. Harry

orders Kreacher to find Fletcher and bring him back to grimmaud place. But before

Kreacher leaves harry presents him the false locket as a token for Kreacher to

remember his old master. Kreacher sets out to execute Harry’s orders. Harry finds

death eaters around the house. But they cannot enter into it as the house has the

protective enchantment. Lupin arrives with the news of outside world. Harry is

wanted for questioning by the Ministry. Ministry has commanded the wizards to

submit to interviews to prove that they have wizarding parents; anyone practicing

magic without strong wizardry background will be presumed to have stolen magical

secrets and will be liable for prosecution. Harry reads Dumbledore’s biography in a

newspaper where his sister Ariana is assumed to be a squib. Kreacher returns back

with Fletcher and Fletcher admits that he stole the locket and was planning to sell it to

Umbridge.Rowling presents kreacher as an extremely productive and helpful house

elf who is engaged in house cores like cleaning, cooking and keeping himself washed.

From the newspaper, Harry and his friends learn that Snape has been appointed as the

new head master of Hogwarts, and two new professors from Death Eaters have joined

in the school. Harry’s scar burns during the dinner and now he can see Voldemort.

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Voldemort is in search of Gregorovitch. Voldemort kills a woman in front of her

young children. Voldemort must be looking for Gregorovitch for knowing the fact

about Harry’s wand. He wants to know how harry defeated Voldemort. But harry was

sure that it is not his only power that saved him that night. Harry and friends plan to

enter into Ministry of Magic inorder to get the locket from Umbridg’s office. Using

polyjuice potion they steal the identity of different staffs. Death eater yaxley threatens

Ron (now Cattermole) by telling that his wife has been accused of being a mud blood

and has been asked for hearing that very day. Harry, with the help of invisibility cloak

dashes into Umbridge’s office. Outside Umbridge’s office, there is a room where

employees are producing pamphlets warning the dangers posed by mud bloods to

wizarding society. Harry fails to find the locket in Umbridges office. He proceeds to

the room where Umbridge conducts hearing of the suspected mud bloods. Harry finds

that the locket Umbridge is wearing is one of the horcruxes he has been searching for.

Harry uses a spell to stun Umbridge and takes the locket from her neck. Harry and

friends join with Mary Cattermole and the other prisoners and led them to a better

place of safety. Harry and friends wakes up in a forest and harry had no idea of how to

destroy the horcrux, the locket. He wears it for safekeeping. Harry sees Voldemort as

his scar burned, Voldemort approaches Gregorovitch. When he said the wand is not

with him he reads Gregirovitches mind and sees a young handsome blond man

stealing the wand. Harry thinks the mysterious looking blond youth must be

Voldemort’s next target. Harry realizes that the horcrux that he is wearing has a

negative impact on him and that prevents him to spell the patronus charm against

dementors. Rons wears the locket instead of Harry and gets frustrated due to its effect.

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At night Rons and Hermione happens to meet two goblins travelling near them. They

seem to be on the run from Voldemort and the Ministry. One of the goblins who

worked at gringotts bank, tells the story about his revenge against the wizards on

Ministry. Professor Snape had sent the Gryffindor sword to the gringotts goblins, but

they recognized it as fake. Nevertheless they said nothing to Snape regarding this.

Harry came to know about the power of this sword to destroy the horcruxes. He

deduce that Dumbledore left the sword to harry in his will as it is very important. The

place where Dumbledore kept the original sword is still unknown to harry. The sword

is impregnated with the basilik venom and it has the property of absorbing anything

that makes it stronger. In between Rons leave Harry’s company out of frustration.

Harry and Hermione go to godric’s hollow where they visit the grave of Harry’s

parents and sees the house where they lived when Voldemort killed his parents.

Bathilda Bagshot, an old woman lead them to her house and they fooled her hoping

that she may know Dumbledore and can give the sword. But she turns out to be dead

and Nagini, Voldemort’s snake lives in her body. They hardly escape and Harry’s

wand is destroyed in the fight. Harry gets the new biography of Dumbledore.

According to the biography Dumbledore has helped the dark wizard Grindelwald

when he was young and there is a chance for all the rumours turn to be right. He may

have been responsible for his sister Ariana’s death. Harry sees Grindelwald’s

photograph and recognizes that the Youngman whom Voldemort is looking for is

grindelwald. One night harry is led by a silver patronus and is brought into the place

where the Gryffindor’s sword is buried .It was within ice in a pond. Harry dives in

and gets the sword. He destroys the locket (horcrux) using the sword. Hermione finds

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a strange symbol in the book that Dumbledore left her. She had noticed Xenophilius

Love good wearing the same symbol. Xenophilius explains that the symbol represents

the deathly hallows-three objects which gives its owner the mastery over death. And

those three objects are the elder wand, the resurrection stone, and the invisibility

cloak. Xenophilius deceives them to the Death Eaters, hoping to free his daughter

Luna, whom ministry had been imprisoned. The trio escapes from his house. Harry

develops an interest to purse deathly hallows and to leave his mission to destroy the

horcruxes. They are caught by Death Eaters and are taken to Malfoy’s manor.

Bellatrix Lestrange, one of the Death Eaters tortures Hemoine for getting information

about the sword. Bellatrix had a thought that the sword is under her custody at

Gringotts bank. Harry and his companions escape from the house with the help of

Doby, Malfoy’s older house elf. Harry along with Olivander, Luna Lovegood and

Griphok escapes to Ron’s brother bill’s cottage. Harry considers the possibility of a

horcrux in Bellatrix’s vault. With Griphok’s help Harry, Ron and Hermione steal the

hufflepuff cup from the vault. Harry learns from Voldemort that the final horcrux is at

Hogwarts. Dumbledore’s brother Aberforth helps harry and friends to enter into

Hogwarts. Neville Long button is leading Dumbledore’s army in the absence of

Harry. Harry asks his allies, the members of D.A to remember about any special thing

that is important, thinking that it can be the horcrux he is searching for. The raven

claw students tell about the diadem of Raven claw which has been lost. Harry

searches for the diadem. Meanwhile the Hogwarts is on the threat of Voldemort’s

arrival. The professors and students of Hogwarts rally to his defense.Voldemort and

his followers attack the school. Harry finds out and destroys the horcrux. Harry

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witnesses Voldemort killing Snape. Since Snape murdered Dumbledore, Snape is the

true owner of his powerful wand. Hence Voldemort kills Snape to take the possession

of the wand. Before dying Snape gives harry his memories extracted for viewing in

the pensieve. Pensieve is a magical object used to review memories. Harry views the

most important memories in Snap’s life in the pensieve. It was the moment when

harry realizes that he has totally gone wrong about his understanding of professor

Snape. Snape had great affection with his mother Lily Potter and had spent his entire

life spying for Dumbledore. Harry realizes another shocking fact from one of Snape’s

conversation with Dumbledore that there is a piece of Voldemort’s soul inside Harry,

which means harry is the final horcrux. And he will have to surrender before

Voldemort before Voldemort can die. Harry went to the forest and lets Voldemort kill

him. Harry wakes up in a dreamlike version of king’s cross train station. There he

meets Dumbledore and he tells harry that he hasn’t died because of the protective

charm that Lilly Potter placed on Harry Potter. It hasn’t expired and is still kept alive

inside of Voldemort since Voldemort used Harry’s blood to reconstitute himself.

Voldemort believes that harry is dead and orders Hagrid to carry Harry’s body to

Hogwarts. Voldemort announces Harry’s death and demands Hogwarts surrender. The

teachers and students try to resist Voldemort. Neville comes forward to confront

Voldemort. Voldemort offers him a senior position as Death Eater, Neville rejects the

offer. Voldemort summons sorting hat and says it won’t be needed anymore as the

whole Hogwarts will be in Slytherian group. Neville pulls the Gryffindor sword out of

the hat and kills Nagini, meanwhile all of Harry’s supporters and all of Voldemort’s

erupt in a fresh battle. Mrs. Wesley kills Bellatrix. Harry Potter reveals many secrets

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which are unknown to Voldemort. He says Voldemort is not the real master of

Dumbledore’s wand. He is mistaken about Snape. Snape was actually a supporter of

Dumbledore. And the real person who defeated Dumbledore was Draco. As harry

disarmed Draco recently, the ownership of the wand is transferred to harry. Inorder to

test his power, Voldemort spells a killing curse upon Hogwarts. But his killing curse

fails before Harry’s protective charm which he has placed upon Hogwarts. All of

Hogwarts erupts in victory and begins to celebrate. Harry decides to leave the wand in

Dumbledore’s grave so that he can opt a natural death and end its power. The novel

ends with an epilogue that presents a period after 19 years. Harry is standing at the

train station to send his younger son to Hogwarts. Harry is married to Ginny. And they

have three children. The porter’s family meets Rons and Hermione who are married.

They come with their two children. James, Harry’s elder son taunts Albus by saying

that he will be selected for Slytherian family. Harry comforts Albus Severus by saying

that one of the headmasters he was named for, Severus Snape was the bravest man

Harry ever knew. The train departs. When Harry touches his scar, it does not make the

burning sensation once it used to make.

The ‘subaltern’

Gramsci uses the term ‘subaltern’ to identify the social groups excluded from

the socio-economic institutions of the society. In his prison notebooks, Gramsci

identifies these marginalized sector as integral part of the society. They should not be

misinterpreted because of their low social status. They have the hidden spark to come

up with revolutionary ideals. One of the prominent characteristics of Harry potter

series is, Rowling’s brilliance in characterisation. Each and every characters in the

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series is unique and plays significant role in the plot and most of these characters are

marginalized either because of their race or due to their physical features. There are

enslaved creatures, half-bloods, muggle borns and squibs.

Half-blood, Muggleborns and Squibs

Many of the wizards in the community are half-bloods, that is they have the

parent who is a muggle and the other is a wizard or witch. Though they constitute the

larger part of the society, their social status was not secured. They were inferior to

pure bloods. Harry belongs to the half-blood strata. He was born to James Potter, the

pure blood wizard and Lily potter-a muggle born witch. The scornful attitude of

purebloods towards the half-bloods is evident from the Death Eaters conversation

with Harry. ‘You dare to speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare dismirch it

with you half-blood’s tongue.”(Rowling,Order of the Phoenix 784). If pureblood

constitute the upper-class in the wizarding world, half-bloods can be placed in the

middle strata. The wizards who were placed on the lower rank of the social order are

those who are muggleborn. Hermione, one of Harry’s friends was a muggleborn

wizard. He was born to parents who lacks any magical skills and one can trace events

were Hermione gets insulted because of her muggleborn identity. Draco mocks at

Hermione by calling her ‘filthy mud blood’. ‘Mud blood’ was a derogatory name for

those that of muggle parentage. Squibs are the people born into wizarding family but

possess no magical powers. They are completely excluded from the mainstream. It is

uncommon for them to live with wizards. There are very few squibs mentioned in the

novels. Aargus Filch and Arbella Figg are the two notable squibs appears in the novel.

They are depicted as odd and seems to be completely segregated from the society.

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Ministry of magic disregards them. They are placed as complete outsiders in the

wizarding society. That why they don’t even keep the record of squibs, emphasising

the idea that squibs have no place in wizard world. There were rumours about

Dumbledore as he killed his sister who was a squib. For many families children who

are born as squib were a threat. Squibs are encouraged to join muggle schools and live

in a muggle society since there they will not be considered as second class citizens

like they are in the wizarding society. (Rowling,Deathly Hallows 155)

Enslaved creatures

In the wizard society there are not only people with magical power but also a

number of non-human creatures that most seem to possess some sort of magical

powers. They play different roles in the society yet all have in common the fact that

they are placed lower in society than those that are human. Three races are shown in

great detail in the books, the house-elves, the goblins and centaurs. Most of these non-

human beings form the base of the society. That is, their job is to serve and produce so

that the superstructure, that is the wizards and witches, can go on with their life

without any trouble. The society within the walls of Hogwarts even thrives on slavery,

where house-elves do all the work, yet no one gives it much focus. The portrayal of

these non-human beings is similar to minority groups that do not have the same rights

as others in the society. The house-elves have accepted their place as simple workers

and lack the belief that they are capable of being on their own. It is possible to place

the goblins and centaurs into the same group since their attitude and loathing towards

wizards and witches is similar. Neither group does try to be a part of the wizard world

but shuns it in any way possible yet are bound to the wizard world in some sense.

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Wizards and witches are the only ones that have the right to use and own a wand and

it becomes evident that there has been a struggle between the non-human beings and

the wizard and witches for years.

House-elves

House-elves are described to be tiny creatures with bat like ears and large eyes

(Rowling, Goblet of fire 97). House-elves are servants to wizard families and

normally serve within the same family and are passed down until their death. Most

wizards and witches treat house-elves very poorly and the house-elves seem to have

accepted their place as simple workers in the society. Hermione Granger, Harry’s

friend points out “house elves get a very raw deal! … its slavery, that’s what it is!”

since no house-elf gets paid for his or her work (Rowling, Goblet of Fire125). The

house-elves are evidently very dependent on wizards and extremely loyal to their

masters and are known to turn to self-harm if they disobey their master’s wishes or

commands. House-elves do possess magical power and can even perform some

magic, such as magical transportation to and from places which wizards and witches

are unable to. Yet they, as well as other magical creatures, are not allowed to carry a

wand like wizards and witches and there is law against it that states, “No non-human

creature is permitted to carry or use a wand” (Rowling, Goblet of Fire 132). The

society in Hogwarts does thrive on the work of the house elves; they do all the

cleaning and cooking yet they stay hidden. It is not until in The Goblet of Fire that

Hermione, Harry and Ron realize that there are house-elves that do all the work in the

castle. After Hermione discovers that the house-elves do not get paid or receive any

vacation, she forms an organization called Society for the Promotion of Elfish

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Welfare, or S.P.E.W, to fight for basic rights for house-elves. This idea of hers is met

by indifference or even ridicule from her schoolmates and even the house-elves

themselves. This social status is, as Marion Rana points out, due to the fact that the

house-elves are believed to be inferior to wizards since they lack intelligence, like to

serve humans and are seemingly incapable of living on their own. The story shows

three house elves in depth and all are shown as very different, yet all share the

common ground of being completely dependent on wizards or witches in some form

and they are all forced to follow direct orders from their masters, or as one of them

states, “the house-elf’s highest law is his Master’s bidding” (Rowling, Deathly

Hallows 195). The house-elf Dobby is shown as the only elf that is against this

enslavement after he is set free from the Malfoy family. He is considered weird and

placed as an outsider in the house-elf community within the walls of Hogwarts after

Dumbledore offers him a paid job with vacation days. Even though Dobby is

presented as the most liberal elf, he is still shown as naïve and asks for very little pay

and seems terrified at the thought of too much pay and vacation. Dobby begins to

worship Harry, as he was his owner, taking commands from him and is willing to do

practically anything for him, even sacrifice his own life as he does. This need for a

master shows that Dobby is in fact incapable of living on his own. Winky is an

example of a house-elf who is so dedicated to her master that after she is freed, that is

fired, she becomes deeply depressed and an alcoholic. Kreacher is the house-elf that

Harry inherits from his godfather Sirius. Sirius treated Kreacher badly, resulting in

Kreacher betraying Sirius by finding a way to twist direct orders from him. Harry

holds resentment towards the elf, yet after Harry changes his mind about him and

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starts to treat him with respect, Kreacher’s behaviour changes drastically. He begins to

groom himself and starts cooking and cleaning the house, doing his job with great

pleasure. The house-elves can clearly symbolize African-American and Caribbean

slave struggles. They are simply meant to serve, not to be seen nor heard, and are

trapped in their work, made to believe that they are unable to have a life outside of

their work. This notion that Kreacher, as many other house-elves, is passed down

gives an even greater focus on the fact that house-elves are enslaved. Many other

factors strengthen this image of house-elves as slaves, for example the fact that house-

elves seemingly only have one name, something that was common among slaves. The

way the house-elves speak focuses on the fact that they are thought to lack

intelligence. The way they speak is similar to immigrants as they speak very simple

English, an example of this is how Winky speaks of herself, “I is a good elf, I isn’t

using wands. I isn’t knowing how” (Rowling, Goblet of Fire 136). The house-elves do

not share a common grammar, but those house-elves shown do all speak incorrectly.

This image of the house-elves as slaves places them as the base of the society, they

are simply meant to serve the wizards and witches without getting any credit or

payment as they are made to belief that they are incapable of being independent from

the humans.

Goblins and Centaurs

Goblins and centaurs are two very distinct races in the wizard world, yet have

in common the fact that they are looked down on by wizards and witches and should

be kept at their place at the bottom of the society. These two groups also have in

common their negative outlook on wizards and witches as they feel they are

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themselves superior to them. The people in the society see both the goblins and the

centaurs in a negative way as they are regarded cruel, harsh and unyielding in their

belief that they are greater than the humans. Goblins are shown as very intelligent

beings that have their own language and possess great skills in the making of

weapons, jewellery and money. They are slightly larger than house-elves, have long

thin fingers and black eyes (Rowling, Deathly Hallows 485). Goblins make up a large

part of the workers in the wizard bank, Gringotts. Even though they retain much talent

and possess magical powers, a large part of the wizard society regards them as lower

class and place them as simple workers with other magical beings that are not human.

Goblins are shown as a very proud race and are not willing to submit to wizards

calling, making them very unlike house-elves. Many things have caused troubles and

tension between goblins and wizards, for example the right to carry a wand, which is

propitiated to goblins. Even though they are capable of performing magic without a

wand, one goblin, Griphook, puts it that “wizards refuse to share the secret of wand

lore with other magical beings, they deny us the possibility of extending our powers”

while wizards argue that goblins refuse to share with them their secrets in sword and

armour making (Rowling, Deathly Hallows 488). Goblins feel that the rightful owner

of an object is the maker, not the purchaser and disapprove of the habit within wizard

society of passing objects down a family (Deathly Hallows 517). The quarrel between

goblins and the humans has resulted in a number of rebellions from the goblins

throughout the years that are only mentioned in History of Magic at Hogwarts. The

story only shows one goblin in detail, Griphook, that Harry must rely on for help in

order to defeat Lord Voldemort. The goblin is presented in a very negative way and

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Harry states that he does not like the goblin since he is “unexpectedly bloodthirsty,

laughed at the idea of pain to lesser creature, and seemed to relish the possibility that

they might have to hurt other wizards” (Deathly Hallows 509). The humans in society

only see the goblins as workers, yet they see themselves as greater. Though they have

evidently struggled to take power into their own hands with rebellions, they have

failed and been kept down by the wizard society. Centaurs are first briefly shown in

the first Harry Potter novel and are said to have a human body to the waist while their

lower body is of a horse. From the beginning they are portrayed as a very proud race

and live together in a herd in a forest following their own rules and laws, completely

apart from the wizard society. In The Order of the Phoenix the centaurs are shown in

more detail and they are as well seen in a very negative way, much like the goblins.

One of the centaurs, Firenze, agrees to take a teaching position at Hogwarts. The

others from his herd exile him and almost kick him to death, claiming he betrayed and

dishonoured them by becoming a worker for humans (Rowling, Order of the phoenix

698). The centaurs view themselves as superior to wizards and witches and seem in

no way want to be meddled with the human society. The goblins wish to gain the right

to use a wand and possibly some more power within the society and the centaurs are

willing to exile and attempt to murder one of their own who leaves the herd to join the

human society, giving both races a very negative image. Both groups feel that the

deserve something greater yet have been held down by wizards and witches, simply

placed in the base of the society with the house-elves.

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The wide range of characters enable the readers to get a deeper insight of the

wizarding society and the social discrimination which existed as a vital force in their

community. Most of the characters were subjected to social segregation. The squibs

and house elves are completely caste out of the society. House elf dobby’s selfless

attempt to save Harry hinges on Gramsci’s argument with regard to the power of class

alliances. The working class can overthrow the ruling class by creating a bond with

the peasants- the lower strata.

Voldemort; embodiment of Gramscian ‘Caesarism’

Gramsci used the term Caesarism to address the dictatorial aspect of

hegemony. Voldemort, the arch villain of the Harry Potter series craves for power and

tries to control the entire wizarding world with a tyrannical spirit. Voldemort makes

his first appearance in the novel ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’.

According to the prophecy Harry has the power to vanquish the dark lord. Voldemort

attempts to kill the boy but instead kills his parents and leaves harry with a scar on his

head. Almost every wizards were not even dared to utter his name and refers him by

saying that ‘you know who’, ‘he who must not be named’ or ‘the dark lord’.

Voldemort is heavily disturbed by the presence of muggleborns inside the wizarding

world. His ultimate aim was to make the wizarding world free of mud bloods and to

take dominance over both muggles and wizarding world. He always favoured poor

blood dominance. Voldemort is the last descendant of the wizard Salzar Slytherin, one

of the four founders of Hogwarts .Voldemort’s followers are labelled as ‘Death

Eaters’. They constitute a group of evil wizards who supports Voldemort for

establishing him as the supreme ruler. Voldemort assumes the role of a cruel dictator

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throughout the conclusion part– ‘Harry Potter and the deathly hallows’. His intense

desire for the elder wand and several attempts to kill Harry makes him the replica of

power thirsty rulers depicted in history pages. Along with the desire for attaining

mastery over death, Voldemort was also driven by the urge for sole reigning. His

obsession with pure blood makes him more vulnerable. There are a series of events

where Voldemort uses his power to shape the society. A wizard war begins after

Voldemort regain his power in the Goblet of Fire. Voldemort and death eaters fight for

their belief that pureblood and half-blood wizards are the true heirs of magical

powers. Voldemort and his allies develops new strategies for removing muggleborns

from the wizarding society. He regains his power over ministry of magic and plans to

bring about changes in the current structure of the wizarding world. Voldemort forces

the Ministry members to conduct a registration committee to “better understand how

they came to possess magical secrets” (Rowling, Deathly Hallows 209). The wizards

were asked by the committee to subject before the ministry to know about their

ancestry. Voldemort’s regime gradually brought visible changes in the ministry. The

fountain located at the entrance hall was replaced by a statue. The new statue shows a

wizard and a witch sitting on the top of carved naked muggles with engraving “magic

is might”. Voldemort makes muggle studies compulsory for Hogwarts students and

they were taught as “muggles are like animals, stupid and dirty” (Rowling, Deathly

Hallows 574).

The act of hunting down and removing muggle borns from the wizarding

society and believing that pure blood is superior to all the other races is quite

reminiscent of the ideology of Nazis during World War II. Nazis believed that the

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Aryan race is superior to other races. Voldemort’s racial prejudice and greed for

dictatorship tends the reader to think that Rowling was trying to recreate a new Hitler

in her novels. In a closer analysis one cannot ignore the similarities between Lord

Voldemort and the well-known political leader Adolf Hitler. The primary similarity

lies in their racially stimulated ideology. The Nazi regime was responsible for the

genocide of millions of Jews. Both men used their manipulative abilities to reach their

main goal-the attainment of power. Voldemort tries to accumulate the whole power at

his hand to have an absolute control over the wizarding society. He wants power not

for the benefit of others but for himself. And therefore he was not ready to simply

integrate himself into the existing political system, on the contrary he wished to

overturn the government in the form of revolt and makes it an entirely different

system of government led by him. Similarly, although Hitler convinced others that he

was only trying to help Germany, it is clear that Hitler is driven by personal ambition.

Voldemort and Hitler were similar in the treatment of inferiors. The limits of

discrimination was further extended during the Second World War; now the Jews are

classified by different degrees of mixed blood, depending on their ancestry.

Voldemort’s attempts to confirm the pureblood ancestry of the wizards; hearing

sessions conducted for muggle born wizards. His desire for fixing slytherin as the

only founder of Hogwarts presents Voldemort as a symbol of inequality and racism.

One can also find similarity in the way the personal life influenced the nature of these

two dictators. Hitler’s upbringing was in poor life situations. He didn’t get much

attention when he was a child. Voldemort spend his childhood in an orphanage. It is

later revealed that Voldemort killed his father and grandparents. Perhaps these

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pathetic childhood might have paved way to the cold blooded nature of these power-

thirsty dictators.

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Conclusion

Rowling’s fantasy world is not completely detached from everyday reality. It

establishes an intimate connection with reality and incudes cultural and political

references. The wizarding world of Harry Potter exists parallel to the real world and

holds magical versions of real life situations. It further adds to the hope of analyzing

the fictional text from a Marxist perspective. The series discuss about the issue of

cultural hegemony besides the traditional Marxist notions like capitalist society and

social hierarchy. The relationship between the ruling group, the powerful people of

Ministry of Magic and the manipulated community manifests the Gramscian concept

of cultural hagemony.Gramsci’s observation regarding the role of social institution in

expensing hegemony has been further reinforced by Luis Althusser’s theory of

Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) and Repressive State Apparatus (RSA). Althusser

was greatly influenced by Gramsci and enhanced the Marxist theory of the state by

distinguishing the Repressive Apparatuses of state from the ideological Apparatuses

of the state. He proposes that the ruling class uses the RSA (government, courts,

police and armed forces) to dominate the working class. Ideological state Apparatus

use methods other than physical violence to achieve the same objective as RSA.They

may include educational institutions, media outlets, churches, social and sports clubs

and family what Gramsci called civil society. Althusser agrees with Gramsci’s

argument that a social class cannot hold state power unless and until it simultaneously

exercise hegemony over and through ISA. The constant setting of Hogwarts School of

witchcraft and wizardry, the corrupted Ministry of magic underscores the role of these

institutions in shaping a society according to the will of dominant class. Educational

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institution assume a dominant role in the society, and conceal the ideology of ruling

class behind the liberating qualities of education so that the hidden agendas of the

ruling class remains invisible to other teachers,students,parents and other members of

society. Ministry’s appointment of Umbridge as the high inquisitor, her contempt for

muggles and their attempt to stop Harry from claiming the return of Voldemort

testifies the corrupted selfish side of this authority. All matters relating to magical

community in Britain are managed solely by the Minister of magic and he has sole

jurisdiction over Ministry. The authority is depicted as a corrupted one with its high

ranking officials who are blind to ominous incidents that happens within the

wizarding world. They worked for the preservation of Magical law, but their major

concern seems to be the sole dictatorship of over the wizarding community. There are

numerous mentions of titles and offices that are commonly associated with

democratic forms of government. The votes held to remove Dumbledore from the

Hogwarts also hinges at the democratic nature of wizarding authority. But it actually

denies the real democratic principles by remaining dumb towards the voices of

minority. Ministry’s deliberate attempt to suppress Dumbledore’s Army-the student

organization to stand up against the regime of Umbridge, projects out the ministry’s

inherent nature of totalitarianism.

According to Gramsci cultural hegemony is the change in culture by the

means of ideologies and values imposed by the dominant social group. The

subordinate group gradually adapt the changes and these changes become the part of

their culture. The culture is reformed by a hegemonic influence which is distinct from

force or coercion. The hegemonic group opt peaceful means to execute their

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principles and seeks the aid of social and economic structures as a part of achieving

subordinate’s consent. The formulation of laws like The International statute of

secrecy which intends to hide the existence of witches and wizards from muggles, the

Educational decrees introduced by Umbridge in Hogwarts all alludes to the vital role

played by laws in controlling a society. The house elves, the enslaved creatures were

forbidden to use magical wand by law. They possessed magical skills like magical

transportation which the wizards were unable to. They were destined to serve their

masters and remained without any credit or payment. They were made to believe that

it is impossible for them to live independently of humans. And they were satisfied in

the code of conduct that every house elf should follow.Doby was considered as an

outsider by the rest of house elves community when he was set free from his

master.Doby was afraid of granding vacation and to be paid too much.Winky, another

house elf depicted in the story asserts that he is a good house elf as he is not having

wand and says he doesn’t know anything. Every house elves depicted in the series

shares a common trait of submissiveness. Their willingness to follow the preexisting

order and their unwillingness to initiate actions for the improvement of their own

situation clearly suggests the presence of a dominant sector that skillfully turned this

subjugation into a practice. House elves are the true replica of African slaves who

were treated like objects and have always been subjected to exploitation by the upper

class. They worked without payment and their efforts remained unidentified. Squibs

were one of the other victim of this hegemonic distortion. The wizarding society does

not keep the records of the squibs, children born to magical parents but lack any

magical skills. Thus marginalization and class hierarchy becomes a practice shaped by

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the wizarding superstructure. Here the ruling group achieves an expansive hegemonic

status by winning the spontaneous consent of great masses of people. This is what

Gramsci called expansive hegemony. Unlike squibs and house elves Goblins are

proud race, the makers of wand, armors and money. Yet they are kept at the bottom of

the social strata. Theme of Marginalization runs rampant in all the Harry Potter

Novels. The basic distinction lies between muggle borns, pure blood and half-blood

wizard. The history behind the chamber of secrets emphasizes the level of hatred

wizards possessed for muggle borns. Though the wizarding society allows education

to muggle borns there exists a strong separation between muggle borns and poor

blood wizards. Professor Umbridge’s words to mock Hermione in the novel ‘Harry

potter and the Order of Phoenix’ fuels this thought of bias among the students.

The description of the Fountain of Magical Brethern located in the Atrium of

the Ministry of Magic evidently shows a community that built upon class prejudices.

The large golden statues are located in the middle of the pool. The tallest of them is a

wizard with a wand pointing straight into the air. There are statues of a witch, a

centaur, a goblin, and a house elf surrounding the statue. The witch and wizards are

the two focal points of the fountain. The other beings looking upon them in awe and

adoration. The dominating nature of wizards and witches in the society is well explicit

in the fountain description. Gramsci’s concept of cultural hegemony acknowledges

the role of the working class in overthrowing the dominant sector through class

alliances. Gramsci thinks the working class can become the dominant class only if it

can make connections with people like peasants and other subordinate classes. The

final victory of Harry Potter over Voldemort makes this finding reaonable.There

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happened a union of different sectors; The selfless sacrifice made by Dobby, the

house elf, and the guidance of Goblin, the employee at Gringotts were indisputably an

inevitable support for Harry without which he could not have been able to defeat

Voldemort. The story also traces how the war of position paved way to war of

maneuver. In his prison notebook Antonio Gramsci proposes the idea of war of

maneuver as a cultural struggle of much longer duration and complexity. More

specifically it is the intellectual struggle that counters the hegemonic influence of

bourgeoisie state. The establishment of different organization and student party can be

considered as fine intellectual efforts to accumulate strength in order to confront

Voldemort. The order of the phoenix, a secret organization founded by Albus

Dumbledore to fight against Voldemort and the students initiative ‘Dumbledore’s

Army’ to learn defense against dark arts is quite allusive of what Gramsci called as

war of position. The counter hegemonic tendencies finally enabled the people to lead

a frontal attack against the dark lord and his followers.

Gramsci’s description of civil society finds expression in the Harry Potter

universe. The elements of Gramscian civil society like school, court, sports team,

Media and families takes considerable space in the fictional canvas. Like Gramsci

regards, civil society is the expression of hegemony. The in depth analysis of the

Harry Potter novels extends its hope to be analyzed in Marxist framework. Along with

depicting the class distinction which has been the key concept of traditional Marxist

notions, Rowling’s dream world also shows the hegemonic influence and the

strategies adopted by the ruling class so that their view become the world view.

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